Precious metal theft has become rampant for public, private and government organizations. Some precious metals are relatively common — like copper, aluminum and steel — while others are more exotic, like palladium and rhodium. But the bottom line is this: they all have prices, which makes them vulnerable to theft by criminals who seek to monetize stolen precious metals.

Most precious metals are fairly obvious — for example, it’s long been known that copper is a commonly stolen metal. It is also ubiquitous, so thieves may be so brazen as to steal copper wire from live electrical grids and cause widespread power outages. Catalytic converters from automobiles are another highly publicized source of precious metals. They contain platinum, palladium and rhodium, all of which can return a high price. There are also metals that people don’t think of as “precious” that can fetch a pretty price: aluminum components, stainless steel and just about any fabricated metal.